Dorothy Baird was born in Edinburgh but, after travelling and living abroad and in England for many years, came home to the city 19 years ago when the first of her three children was born. Her work has been widely published in magazines and anthologies and her first collection, Leaving the Nest, was published by Two Ravens Press last year. 4 of her poems were published in Two Ravens Press’s recent anthology, Cleave , which was Borders book of the month in June. She leads writing groups for adults and children, was Craigmillar's Writer in Residency this year and is also a Human Givens therapist.
Badger Watch
It wasn't so much the badgers
I'll remember, though their shadowy
forms caught my breath
as they rustled in the earth mounds
and nosed in twigs and bluebells - no,
it was rather the waiting,
the five of us, faithful
to the silence we'd agreed on,
crouched downwind, while night
eased itself among the trees
and sheep coughed in distant fields,
when we learned the language
of each other's face; how
in the sweeping dark
we dwindle to a beating heart,
and how in the long emptiness,
the sliver of hope still rises.
[published originally in Acumen and then in Leaving the Nest (Two Ravens Press)]
Other readers in September:
Michael Schmidt
Helena Nelson
Charlotte Runcie
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